Gay Activist Attacked, Kicked By a Chilld, Then Arrested as Passage of Homophobic Bill Succeeds

The protestors came with flowers and smiles. They kissed and got their pictures taken and shouted slogans like ““Moscow is not Baghdad“.

And then the bullies arrived.

Anti-gay protestors shouted their own religious catchphrases, “Moscow is not Sodom.” They hurled rotten eggs and bundles of nettles. Their mission they said was “to protect religious believers’ feelings.” That protection from ‘words’ meant that one gay supporter could be knocked to the ground and booted by the shouting, cursing, foul-mouthed religious protestors. Riot police then waded in and began arresting and detaining the gay protesters and bundling them into waiting buses.

Next came the news that the bill had passed. In an unbelievably awful demonstration of anti-gay hatred, the vote was (steady yourself) 434 to 0. Oh hang on – one abstention.

The lower house of Russia’s parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill that stigmatizes the gay community and bans the distribution of information about homosexuality to children.

The upper house still needs to approve the bill and Putin still needs to sign it.

Both are expected to happen.

Activists say violence against homosexuals has increased since Putin returned to the Kremlin after four years as prime minister and that it is being fueled by the bill and other aspects of his conservative agenda.